


Counterfeit

by crowdent



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Other, Season 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 16:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11717835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowdent/pseuds/crowdent
Summary: Something felt wrong.There just was something not right about Shiro.





	Counterfeit

Something felt wrong.

Keith wasn’t sure what, exactly. At first he’d been overjoyed to find Shiro again. He hadn’t known what to do without Shiro and he didn’t want to be without him. Not again. Not after last time. He was so ready to have Shiro back after everything. But...now he wasn’t so sure.

There just was something not right about Shiro. 

Keith couldn’t put his finger on it. It wasn’t like Shiro looked different, other than a haircut and some new clothes. But it was something, Keith thought, like staring at a photocopy of a painting. Not whole. Not the original, genuine article but some kind of counterfeit copy that Keith unwittingly bought without an appraiser’s eye. 

It was like someone had tried to make Shiro with only a vague knowledge and half baked description. And Keith hadn’t noticed it. At least, not at first. But it started becoming more apparent to him the more time they spent together. Maybe not to the others. The others didn’t know Shiro like Keith did. They weren’t close in the same type of way Keith and Shiro were close, so they wouldn’t see. But Keith did. 

It was just little things. Things like how this Shiro didn’t seem to have as much of a sense of responsibility as the Shiro Keith knew. This Shiro had laid around for a long time, looking haggard and worn without moving until Keith had to be the one to tell him to be responsible. That their ex-leader laying around was bad for morale and that the team needed him back in shape. 

Or how, even though Shiro had been the one to ask Keith to lead Voltron, he didn’t fight at all to let Keith pilot the black lion. Keith had been leading everyone for a while at that point. They had gotten used to their dynamics and Shiro didn’t know how Allura worked in Blue yet, or how Lance maneuvered Red. But he didn’t fight Keith at all when Keith told him to pilot the Black Lion, even though it wasn’t the most reasonable course of action.

Keith hadn’t noticed that at the time, but in retrospect, that was kind of odd for Shiro. Shiro had always treated Keith as being capable and strong, even when Keith didn’t think he was. Shiro was the rock that stood beside him, helping him to his feet, and had always pushed him to be more. To be better. 

So to let Keith just give it up like that? Even if it hadn’t worked out and the Black Lion had stopped responding to Shiro, it was a strange thing for him to do. 

Their dynamic had changed completely. Even when this Shiro was saying kind things, there was this distance there that there hadn’t been before. Things felt awkward, and Keith couldn’t even fake a smile when Shiro had said he was proud of him. And things had Never been awkward before.  
Shiro had always been a comforting presence for him. No matter what happened, no matter how frantic, Shiro had always been calm and decisive and made Keith feel that way too. Their wavelengths were always in sync. Shiro could match him easily, and always knew what to say or do to make him stop and think and come back to center. 

Patience yields focus and all. 

With this Shiro, it was different. If the Shiro Keith knew was a painting, filled with soothing, but vibrant colors brushed in whorls around a canvas, this new Shiro was a canvas painted in shades of grey. He wasn’t the same. They weren’t the same. 

And it hurt.

The thing about Shiro that he always loved, was that Shiro never treated him as his inferior. Shiro believed in him, above all else. He had never turned Keith away, always encouraging him and believing in him, only guiding him with a gentle hand occasionally when he really needed it. Shiro had always stuck by Keith and made him feel like they were equals.

This Shiro, though...This Shiro who felt like a fraud, a fake, someone that Keith didn’t know anymore (and boy did that hurt and make him feel scared and alone), talked down to him. 

It was subtle. Subtle enough that the others wouldn’t notice. But Keith had. In a time so vulnerable, when Keith felt so unsure of his position on team Voltron, when he wasn’t sure he should really be a leader, this Shiro, instead of lifting a hand out and helping pull him up onto solid ground to reaffirm his place, had instead pushed him off. And the others had been so quick to follow, to put an arm around Shiro in camaraderie, to obey his commands. But Keith had felt so distant for just that moment. 

Sure, he was the one in the Black Lion, technically leading everyone. But in the end, they hadn’t listened to his ideas, to his commands. It was Shiro that they had all turned to. And he would have been happy about that in the past. But it had just made him feel bitter and alone. Shiro undermined him as a leader. Gave orders like he was in charge as always. 

This Shiro made Keith feel like his position as the paladin of the Black Lion was merely a formality. A figurehead instead of a real honest to god leader.

But he would never say any of this, or even hint that he thought something was wrong. Who would believe him? How was he supposed to explain that the Shiro he knew had been replaced by some kind of imposter and he was the only one who noticed? They would just think he was jealous. And maybe, he hated to think it, but maybe he was. It was the only reasonable explanation for why he would feel so suspicious of his friend.

Shiro was someone Keith had known for years. They were close. They had gestures and looks that spoke more than any words between them could. They knew each other enough to have whole conversations with a simple hand on the shoulder. So why, Keith wondered, couldn’t he read Shiro at all anymore? 

Who was he? 

Had he changed? Had Shiro changed? Why was there a general sense of unease building inside him that he couldn’t share with anyone? 

He had always been so sure, more than anything, that no matter what happened to them, no matter where they had gone, Keith would always be able to recognize the Shiro in front of him. And that had been true when he found Shiro, different looking, changed from trauma, but still the Shiro that Keith had always known, solid and sure. But now?

His face hadn’t changed. Keith could recognize that face even if he’d been mauled. His voice was the same. His eyes were the same. Everything on him looked exactly the same. But he wasn’t himself and that made Keith feel uneasy. 

He had placed his hand on Shiro’s shoulder only to feel like he was in a room with a stranger wearing his best friend’s skin.


End file.
